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<\/p>\nA pensioner was left covered in scars after a 7ft-tall kangaroo put him in a "headlock" and savagely beat him.<\/p>\n
Brian O'Donnell, 74, was riding a motorbike on his farm in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday night (September 30) when he noticed the beastly male roo following behind.<\/p>\n
"I started to move away slowly on the bike," Brian told ABC. "Next thing I know he was on top of me. He had his top paws right around my back. We were almost headbutting each other." <\/p>\n
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As the kangaroo held him in a headlock, it ripped at his clothes and sliced deep into his left calf. Brian added: "I just kept punching him until he let me go and jumped away, about 15m."<\/p>\n
Brian managed to jump onto the motorbike and race away as the kangaroo was coming back at him for a second go. When he made it home his wife Sue – who had been enjoying a glass of wine at the time – rushed him to hospital where he was stitched up and bandaged. <\/p>\n
Experts say most kangaroo attacks are caused by mistaken identity, with males assuming humans are actually other large males hoping to mate with their females. There was a mob of other kangaroos close by when Brian was attacked, he said. <\/p>\n
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Karl Vernes, an associate professor of ecology at the University of New England in Australia, told Newsweek: "They are always thinking of mating – that pretty much occupies their day. So, attacks are almost (or always?) large, dominant males who think that the transgressor is another large male kangaroo that is wading into the mob of females to mate with them.<\/p>\n
"Mostly attacks involve kicking people leading to bruising and puncture wounds from their sharp toe claws.<\/p>\n
"The 'headlock' is what male kangaroos do – they kick and rake with their feet, and then try to 'throw' their opponent with their powerful forearms – so it is standard kangaroo fighting tactics."<\/p>\n
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